Authentic customer statement. Of course I would not have been surprised or shocked if my driver or maid servant had made this statement. It was made by a bureaucrat – obviously by now you know in which ministry!

Do not wish to talk about this person, but it is really amazing how the people who ‘run’ and ‘govern’ and think they do understand the ultimate customer’s needs are actually only savers, never investors. If you see the SEBI committee on ‘Mutual Fund Advisory’ – it would be interesting to see the mutual fund investments of each of the members! The committee contains ‘manufacturers – the amcs’ – there is no representation of the Investor in mutual funds, or the distributor. The AMCs have been described by one the magazines (who anyway depend on the advertisements) as NFO factories because of their selling skills – the sales force can only sell NFOs! One bank was selling a NFO recently by telling the customer “Sir, you will get full allottment of these units at Rs. 10 if you buy it from our bank” – which is an amazingly true statement! So here is a committee which is indifferent to entry loads (though most of them privately admit that the entry load is a subsidy for their growth – other wise their salary bill will go through the roof), who have decided to abolish the entry load. Good. Will the small IFA die? No but he will surely shrink – his time given to the mutual fund business. He will get people to do more day trading, sell more life insurance, car loans, educational loans, post office schemes, etc. The question is how will the manufacturers react? Some old houses with a great reach can be more easily challenged – if they have the willingness to hire people and pay well – are JP Morgan, DWS, AIG, listening?